Brrrrr

It’s been a wintry week! Snow, ice, delayed openings, and a snow day. The chickens are hating it. They look so cold I wish I could take them inside with me (but that would be gross.)

Mostly they fluff up and huddle in sunny spots, or in the tree, or in/under the coop. If I leave the garage door open they all crowd in there. We have one hen who insists on spending the night perched in a tree all by herself, rather than cuddled up with her friends in the snug coop.

We had a very traumatic event at the end of our snow day. We’d been playing outside with a friend and when we went to go inside I couldn’t find Pippin. When it became clear he was not nearby I got very anxious as it was 4 and would be dark soon, it was snowy, cold, and he’s an old dog (12.) I got my neighbors to help me look and we trudged through the woods searching for him to no avail. As you can imagine I was basically crying the whole time sure that my old dog had died and was being covered by a snowy blanket. Finally a new neighbor told us he had seen a St. Hubert’s van driving down the road (St. Hubert’s is a wonderful animal shelter-it’s where I got Pippin 11 years ago.) We called them up and after an anxious wait they called back to say they had him!! Hooray!! Evidently he had trotted down the road, someone didn’t recognize him, and called up the shelter to get him. Due to a recent collar switch he wasn’t wearing his proper nametags (super shame on me.) So now Pippin is moping about because he loves nothing more in the winter than to bask in the sunshine while lying on ice in the driveway, but I won’t let him outside unattended (well, he can be tied if need be.) We’re getting our invisible fence repaired and have signed him up for retraining, which they assure me they can do with older dogs. Fingers Crossed.
In the meantime, I’m taking him for special walks to make up for it and yesterday we went to our favorite field. It was so lovely-bright winter sunlight, blinding white snow, nice and quiet.
And then the most wonderful thing happened–I saw a bald eagle!! I’ve been hoping for a long time to see one. In this particular area I know one was spotted last year and with the field and trees along a river it’s a possible location. I wasn’t sure that that could really be it, but I’m saying it was and am checking it off on my birdwatching list. It was the white part of the bird that was so striking and made me notice it.

We’re looking at more snow this weekend, a Christmas party, a Christmas pageant, and hopefully getting some Christmas things done.

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About Sarah

I'm a librarian living with my lovely family in a gorgeous spot of New Jersey, where we raise chickens and love the outdoors. I try to find enough time to indulge all my hobbies-cooking, photography, gardening, sewing, and I write about it all on my book blog & personal blog.